Bacon & Maple Scalloped Potatoes

Alright, to get things started today - please defer to my last post for my excuses for the horrible photo quality and lack of photos in this post. I wouldn't be sharing this with you except that it tasted so good that I just can't resist.

I made these Bacon & Maple Scalloped Potatoes for our Easter dinner and they were soooo unbelievably delicious. I normally don't like Kraft recipes because of the overabundance of processed food they promote, but this recipe wasn't too bad and with a few minor swaps I found myself a dish that I will make over and over again.

Bacon & Maple Scalloped Potatoes
Recipe minimally adapted from Kraft Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 oz low fat cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup milk
• 7 slices lazy maple bacon
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Method:

1. Heat oven to 400F. Cook bacon until crisp in a frying pan over medium heat. Set aside on some paper towel to drain. Remove all but 2 tbsp of the bacon drippings from the pan. Return the pan to medium heat and add the onions. Sautee five minutes until very tender, stir frequently. Remove the onions from the skillet and set aside.
2. Add the cream cheese, broth and milk to the skillet and heat until the cream cheese has melted nicely into the sauce. Stir with a whisk until sauce is smooth and creamy. Remove from heat and crumble the bacon into the sauce and add the maple syrup. Stir well.
3. Place half the potatoes in a 9x13" baking dish in an even layer. Cover with a layer of onions and sprinkle with cheddar. Top with a layer of potatoes and repeat layers of onions and cheddar. Finally end with a last layer of potatoes. Pour bacon-maple sauce over potatoe layers. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, removing the foil after 50 minutes in the oven. Potatoes are done when top is golden brown and potatoes are tender.

We really, really enjoyed this one! My hubby doesn't normally eat leftovers, but he eagerly gobbled these potatoes up in the few days following Easter. :) I love the new twist on what is usually such a tried and true classic dish.

This post has been linked up with the Recipe Party over at the Sweet Spot. Stop by and check out what other bloggers have whipped up this week.
Happy Cooking my Friends!

Mini Egg Cupcakes just in time for Easter

Hoppy Easter friends!! :) Sorry, I know that was corny, but I love Easter. Yes, I know the true meaning of Easter (not the coming of the Easter bunny), but the reason I absolutely love Easter revolves more around family activities that I grew up with. We would always go to church as a family to reflect on the true reason for Easter and then we would go over to my grandparents house with our other 10 cousins and have an Easter egg hunt! We would all work together to find our Easter treats that had been carefully hidden in my grandparents' backyard (did I mention it was a HUGE backyard?!!). Needless to say, it was a task that kept us occupied until Easter dinner was ready. My grandma put on quite the show - making everything down to homemade mustard to go on the delicious ham. Yep, it was a lot of fun and cultivated such great memories of our family.

 Since I love Easter and the cute little treats that go along with it, you can imagine my excitement when all these cute Easter treats started showing up on Pinterest. I created these cupcakes based on some inspiration from here. Mine are a little different, but I'm really happy with how they turned out. Here is the recipe I used:

Mini Egg Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar, divided
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
• 1/2 cup Cadbury's Mini Eggs, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12 cup muffin tray with paper liners.
2. Separate the eggs placing the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to whip until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup granulated sugar while mixer is moving and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Scrape into a medium bowl and set aside for later.
3. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside for later.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until fluffy (about two minutes). Add 3/4 cup of sugar and beat until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down sides of the bowl and add vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Once just combined, fold in the mini eggs. Then fold in the egg whites, being careful not to overmix or the batter will deflate.
5. Divide batter equally among the prepared muffin tin. Bake 18 minutes or until tops spring back when lighly pressed. Do not overbake!!
6. Frost with buttermilk frosting (recipe below) and garnish with three mini eggs for each cupcake.

Buttermilk Frosting
Recipe by me

Ingredients:

• 3 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup buttermilk

Method:

1. Beat butter in the bowl of stand mixer on medium-high speed. Add icing sugar and vanilla and mix until well incorporated. Add buttermilk 1 tbsp at a time until frosting is the right consistency for piping.

Thats that! The buttermilk frosting tastes a lot like a cream cheese icing, but with a far better piping consistency. Give these a try this weekend for your Easter get together whether its for friends or family or both. They're sure to be a hit.

This post has been linked up with the Recipe Party at the Sweet Spot. Head on over there and check out what other treats bloggers have linked up this week.

Happy Baking my Friends!